Skate for use on plastic skating surface

ABSTRACT

A skate for use on a plastic skating surface has a rocker-shaped blade with wheels ahead of and to the rear of the central portion of the blade, the rollers having a resilient rim of such diameter that it is compressed under the weight of the skater, assuring that the blade glides on the skating surface when the skate is sliding in the direction of its length but prevents it from side slip. When the skate is tilted, the wheels provide thrust or braking friction as needed.

United States Patent Nagin [451 Sept. 5, 1972 [54] SKATE FOR USE ONPLASTIC SKATING SURFACE [72] Inventor: Harry S. Nagin, DeckerApartments, 191 Presidential Blvd., Bala Cynwyd, Pa. 19004 [22] Filed:Aug. 5, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 61,288

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,002,311 8/1965 Great Britain ..30l/5.3857,866 1/1961 Great Britain ..301/63 PW 190,067 9/ 1 907 Germany..280/1 1.12 334,782 9/1930 Great Britain ..280/7. 1 3

Primary ExaminerBenjamin Hersh Assistant Examiner-Milton L. SmithAttorney-ParmeIee, Utzler 81. Welsh [57] ABSTRACT A skate for use on aplastic skating surface has a rocker-shaped blade with wheels ahead ofand to the rear of the central portion of the blade, the rollers havinga resilient rim of such diameter that it is compressed under the weightof the skater, assuring that the blade glides on the skating surfacewhen the skate is sliding in the direction of its length but prevents itfrom side slip. When the skate is tilted, the wheels provide thrust orbraking friction as needed.

5 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures [56] References Cited UNlTED STATES PATENTS3,387,894 6/1968 Louik ..301/63 PW 2,064,690 12/1936 Schavone..280/11.28 40,807 12/1863 Bailey ..280/11.12 3,552,746 1/1971 Nagin..280/1 1.12 X

"W1 1 I 1111 1 I l 1 111i Patented Sept. 5, 1972 FIG. 1.

II N

INVENTOR HA'RRYTS, NAG/N SKATE FOR USE ON PLASTIC SKATING SURFACE Thisinvention relates to a skate for use on a plastic skating or glidingsurface and constitutes an improvement on the skate disclosed in mycopending application Ser. No. 797,630, filed Feb. 7, 1969, now US. Pat.3,552,746, issued Dec. 5, 1971.

In said application there is disclosed a skate having a blade withrollers thereon so arranged that they offered no appreciable resistanceto the forward travel of the skate blade over the plastic skatingsurface, but when the skate is turned at an angle to the line of traveland tilted sideways to an angle, the anti-friction material forming theperiphery of the skate, will be effective to provide a thrust or brakingaction.

While arrangements shown in said application were generallysatisfactory, I have found that the improvements herein disclosed enablethe skater to skate more freely and perform figures more easily dueprimarily to a better location of the rollers on the skate runner foreand aft of the central arc of the blade and in such relation as to beslightly compressed by the weight of the skater so as to be effective toprevent side-slip even when the skate is not tilted, as well as toimprovements in the rollers or wheels themselves.

According to this invention the skate blade has the generalconfiguration of a conventional rocker skate in which the blade has arunner which is generally quite gradually curved upwardly at the frontand back from a central portion that is tangent to the planar surfaceover which the skate is gliding. According to this invention there arerollers or wheels forwardly of this central portion and rearwardly ofsaid area of such diameter and so positioned that their edges extend toand even perhaps a small distance below said central area of the skateso that if the skate with no load on it were set on a planar surface thecentral area of the skate blade would be slightly off the surface andonly the rollers or wheels would engage the flat surface. However, thewheel has its periphery formed of an elastomer and is generally of atruncated cone shape, so that only a narrow edge which deforms under theweight of the skater would normally contact the skating surface at anytime except when the skate blade is tilted transversely to its lengthfrom a vertical plane.

The invention may be more fully understood by reference to theaccompanying drawing of a preferred embodiment wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the skate setting on a planar skatingsurface represented by the shaded line, but without the skaters weightto press it down;

FIG. 2 is a view partly in transverse section in the plane of line 11-11of FIG. I and partly in elevation;

FIG. 3 is a front elevation on a larger scale than FIG. 1 of one of thewheels;

FIG. 4 is a transverse vertical section in the plane of line lV-IVofFIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 2 showing the skate blade tilted; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary horizontal section in the plane of line VI-VI ofFIG. 2 with the cross pin shown in elevation and with one wheel removedand the other in section.

In the drawings, 2 designates a skate blade which is preferably made ofstainless steel or chromium-plated stainless steel having a lowcoefficient of friction on a plastic skating surface such as thatdisclosed in my copending application. Instead of the skating edge beinghollow ground, as with a conventional ice skate, it is rounded intransverse section as clearly shown at 3 in FIG. 2.

In side elevation the blade 2 is of familiar rocker shape having acentral portion that normally slides on the skating surface, and eachend portion curves upwardly away from the plane of the skating surface.Forward of the central runner portion there is the usual integral metalcolumn 4 on which is a forward platform 5 for attaching the skate to ashoe, and rearwardly of the center portion there is the customaryintegral second column 6 with a rear plateform 7 that attaches to theheel portion of the skating shoe.

There is a metal pin or shaft 8 passing through the skate forwardly ofthe central portion of the runner, preferably being located in the bladeabout where the vertical center line a-a of the column 4 projecteddownwardly, passes through the blade. This shaft projects an equaldistance to each side of the blade and near each end it has an annulargroove 9 therein. There is a similar shaft 10 passing through and fixedin the blade on the projected center line bb of the rear column 6.

On each end of each shaft there is a wheel or roller designatedgenerally as 11. Each wheel is retained on its shaft by a C-key of awell-known type with three lugs that snap into the groove 9. While eachwheel is generally in the shape of a truncated cone, in its preferredform it has a narrow cylindrical rim 12 at the base of the cone and fromthis rim it tapers like a truncated cone to the outer small diameterface of the wheel, which is the face most remote from the blade or skaterunner. The inner face of the wheel has an integral washer-like projection 13 thereon that confronts and bears against the skate blade.

The wheel is formed with a central core or hub member 14, the portion 13being the inner end of thiscore. Cemented or otherwise immovably formedabout the core and fitted thereto is a rim portion 15 which is desirablyan elastomer that is injection-molded around the hub or core. The hub ispreferably formed of nylon which turns freely on the metal pin-8 or 10as the case may be, while the rim portion 15 is an elastomer having ahigh modulus of elasticity so that it will spring back to a true foundafter repeated deformation, and which at the same time has a relativelyhigh coefficient of friction on a plastic skating surface. A materialwhich has been found highly suitable for this purpose is a modifiedpolyurethane of the type presently available under the designationAdiprene No. 167. It is prepared by combining parts of the Adiprene with19 1% parts of a catalyst known commercially as Moca with the mixturebeing injection-molded and cured at about 100 C. for 1 hour.

A bonding medium I have found to be highly satisfactory for securing theelastomer to the nylonhub is available commercially from the WhitakerCompany of West Alexander, Ohio under the trademark or trade designationPhixon XAB 936.

The diameter of the inner rim portion of each wheel is such that whenthe skate runner is setting level on a flat surface with the mid portionof the runner just touching the surface, the said wheel rims willproject beyond the runner and contact the supporting surface.

, In fact the wheels may even be and desirably are preferably largeenough to hold the skate runner a very few thousandths of an inch abovethe level surface when the weight of the skater is not on the skate, therim, however, being sufficiently resilient to allow the skate runner toslide on the skating surface when it yields under the weight of theskater. In either case the skate blade normally glides on the plasticsurface and as long as the central area of the skate is gliding on theskating surface and the shafts 8 and 10 are substantially at rightangles to the direction of glide, the rollers will desirably contact theskating surface, and not interfere with forward glide, but at all timesprevent the skate from slipping sideways as it would otherwise be freeto do, and thereby the rollers give the skater good control of hisskates, and prevent uncontrolled spreading of his feet and legs.However, when the wearer turns the skate sideways or diagonal to theline of travel, the blade is naturally tilted from a vertical plane,pivoting on the edges of one or the other of the front and rear rollers,which, as shown in FIG. 5, lifts the skate clear of the skating surfaceand all of the skaters weight is concentrated on the sloping peripheryof the two wheels. At this time the peripheries of the two wheel son oneside of the blade will be parallel with and contact the skating surfaceacross their entire widths, securing maximum benefit of their highcoefficient of friction of the wheel rim to provide thrust for forwardtravel or effective braking.

If in figure skating, the skater does a familiar move ment where he ineffect skates with one leg straight out ahead of him above the skatingsurface and the other leg bent at the hip, knee and ankle so that herocks back, the trailing end of the blade and the two rear rollers acttogether. In other figures the foot is inclined forwardly and downwardlyand the leading end of the blade and the front two rollers cooperate togive the skater control. In most forward glides either one pair or thepair of rollers or both pairs will usually function. On sharp turns theoutside rollers of one skate and the inside rollers of the other mayfunction with the skates being clear or substantially clear of theskating surface,

but the frusto-conical treads of the rollers or wheel assist the skaterintuming since they inherently roll toward the side of their smallestdiameters.

Since the wheels are constantly subjected to side thrust against therunner of the skate, it is important that the core or hub of the wheelbe not deformable and have a washer-like bearing surface 13 on its innerend to reduce the friction between the blade and the wheel. For thisreason it is also desirable that the transverse shafts 8 and 10 be fixedin the skate runner to prevent any end play of the shafts. This may bedone by brazing or other effective fixing processes.

Also, where the skates are being used for long periods of time,sufficient friction may develop between the portion 13 and the skateblade to effect heating to a detrimental extent so that a lubricantpassage 20 may be formed diagonally from the outer face of the wheeldown to the opening through which the axle or pin, 8 or 10, as the casemay be, passes, the passage opening at the axle near the inner face ofthe hub. Grease under pressure may be forced into this passage togradually escape and lubricate the inner face 13 of the hub 14.

As heretofore indicated, it is important that the outer portion of thewheel, while being resilient and a good friction material, also be onethat will indefinitely, or at least for long periods of time, resistdeformation, be tough and wear-resistant, and resist hardening oroxidizing. The hub may be metal or plastic, nylon being preferredbecause of its low coefficient of friction and strength. The wheels aresufficiently inexpensive that they can be replaced from time to timewithout appreciable maintenance cost.

The wheels could be thinner from one face to the other, but for strengthas well as to provide good surface contact with the skating surface,relatively wide wheels as shown and described are preferred. Front andrear single wheels as disclosed in the aforesaid copending applicationcould be used instead of a pair of wheels, but would require a moreexpensive skate and be less satisfactory. Best results have beenobtained with a rocker skate having a blade with a central area ofcontact with the skating surface, and which curves gradually upward fromthe central area at each end, the central area being generally tangentto the skating surface, or at least more gradually curved that the endportions, and with the wheels on these up-curved portions, the wheelshaving a resilient periphery that projects far enough down to ride onand exert slight pressure against the skating surface in the mannerhereinbefore described.

While I have shown and described a single skate, the skates are used inpairs, one on a left foot shoe and one on a right foot shoe.

lclaim:

l. A skate for use on a plastic skating surface, the skate having:

a. a rocker type blade with a central skating area that normallycontacts the skating surface and front and rear end portions that curvegradually upward from the central portion,

. the skate blade having a wheel means on the blade on saidupwardly-curving front and rear end portions, the wheel means having aresilient rim portion of a diameter such as to be slightly compressedwhen the central portion of the blade is on a flat surface and the skateis carrying the weight of the skater to thereby be effective to preventside slip of the skate in forward gliding.

2. The skate of claim 1 in which said wheel means comprises a pair ofwheels, one of which is at each side of the blade forwardly of saidcentral area and a similar pair rearwardly of the central area.

3. The skate of claim 2 wherein each wheel is generally in the shape ofa truncated cone with the base of the cone being at the side of thewheel nearest the skate blade.

4. The skate defined in claim 3 wherein the base of the truncated conecomprises a narrow cylindrical band of less width than the width of thecone portion of the wheel.

5. A skate comprising:

a. a blade with a runner portion adapted to glide on a plastic skatingsurface,

b. a pair of spaced axle members passing through the blades, with someof the runner portions between the axles, the axles having projectingportions at each side of the blade,

sure is on the skates, but the rim portions yield under the weight of askater to bring the runners into contact with the skating surface,whereby the wheels hold the blades against side slip while the runnersare gliding in the direction of their length.

l F l 1F

1. A skate for use on a plastic skating surface, the skate having: a. arocker type blade with a central skating area that normally contacts theskating surface and front and rear end portions that curve graduallyupward from the central portion, b. the skate blade having a wheel meanson the blade on said upwardly-curving front and rear end portions, thewheel means having a resilient rim portion of a diameter such as to beslightly compressed when the central portion of the blade is on a flatsurface and the skate is carrying the weight of the skater to thereby beeffective to prevent side slip of the skate in forward gliding.
 2. Theskate of claim 1 in which said wheel means comprises a pair of wheels,one of which is at each side of the blade forwardly of said central areaand a similar pair rearwardly of the central area.
 3. The skate of claim2 wherein each wheel is generally in the shape of a truncated cone withthe base of the cone being at the side of the wheel nearest the skateblade.
 4. The skate defined in claim 3 wherein the base of the truncatedcone comprises a narrow cylindrical band of less width than the width ofthe cone portion of the wheel.
 5. A skate comprising: a. a blade with arunner portion adapted to glide on a plastic skating surface, b. a pairof spaced axle members passing through the blades, with some of therunner portions between the axles, the axles having projecting portionsat each side of the blade, c. a wheel on each axle projection ofgenerally truncated cone shape with the larger end of each wheelconfronting the skate, the wheels having resilient rims, d. the axlesbeing so positioned and the wheels being of such diameter that thewheels will hold the runner clear of the skating surface when nopressure is on the skates, but the rim portions yield under the weightof a skater to bring the runners into contact with the skating surface,whereby the wheels hold the blades against side slip while the runnersare gliding in the direction of their length.